HELP-Plants for SW France and plantsman friends birthday

Hi everyone-can you help please?? I have a job near Limoges SW France---already done the hard-landscaping design and now doing a planting plan. The problem is that the temperature range in this area is from 30-40 deg in summer to minus 20 deg + lingering snow in winter. I have several ideas for suitable plants but any suggestions would be really gratefully received. I saw Hibiscus in full flower last summer when over in France-was wondering which species this is that can survive the conditions.
Also- a plantsman friend on mine is about to be 40 so am looking for a plant to confuse him as a fun present-he isn't into posh watches etc!!! Thank you so much for any help.

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Permalink Reply by Pip Howard on January 25, 2009 at 6:50pm: New to France myself and don't know what variety the Hibiscus is, but our whole garden is absolutely clogged with it, it seeds everywhere - I am taking some to a plantsman in the UK to check out in next two weeks so will let you know. Plus if you want any, we live close to the Limoges road and have thousands which will end up being grubbed out. For your confusing plant, I suggest giving the guys at Hardy Exotics, near Penzance a ring, they have some wierd things there www.hardyexotics.co.uk and have always been really helpful.
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Permalink Reply by Colin Elliott on January 26, 2009 at 3:48pm: Hi Jill,

We live in central France having moved over in September 2008, after running a successful garden design and landscaping company in the UK (www.garden-design.co.uk) for the past 20 years or so.

Your Hibiscus will definately be a H. syriacus variety: it grows in the UK and does very well over here. There are several hedges of it in our village grow, I imagine, from seed.

Plant selection should not present you with any more problems than in the UK and you have major suppliers like Demartis down the road towards Bordeaux.

The key as always is in the soil. We are blessed with sandy soil which while it needs a little feeding and organic matter is light and free draining. This has tempted me to try a few exotics: we bought a Lagestremia and a dwarf Mimosa at the Courson plant fair last autumn and I have my fingers crossed that they survived the -12C and the snow of the last few weeks.

For the plantsman in your life, how about a hardy Bromeliad like Puya chiliensis or Fascicularia Bicolour.....with luke he may still be thinking of them as house plants.

Good luck with your planting plan and feel free to ask again if you feel you need more help.
Colin
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